Fall TV: Romola Garai’s ‘Hour’ is now

Beverly Hills— A few years ago, people were talking about Romola Garai as “the next Kate Winslet.” Today, she’s not the next anything: She is the current Romola Garai, here, present tense, and in a very big way.

One of the most fascinating of the crop of younger British actresses working both sides of the Atlantic, Garai was, for many, including myself, the quintessence of Jane Austen’s “Emma,” beautifully embodying all the nuance with which Austen informed the rich, spoiled and headstrong character.

Last year, she exploded onto Yankee screens on BBC America as Bel Rowley in Abi Morgan‘s exquisitely conceived and executed drama “The Hour,” the story of the moment in British history when the fledgling BBC television division shook off the shackles of government control and censorship in the 1950s.

The first season found Bel elevated to the post of producer of a new magazine show on the Beeb called “The Hour,” hosted by heavy-drinking man about town Hector Madden (Dominic West), who wasn’t always up on the actual news but looked better in front of the camera than the show’s crusading head writer, Freddie Lyon (Ben Whishaw).

While the first series followed three main story lines — the growing independence of the BBC, the relationships among the characters and murky spy connections between the network and government figures during the 1956 Suez Crisis, the second series, which will likely air sometime in November on BBC America, dispenses with international intrigue and rather brings the story lines back home, as it were.

While Bel sorts out her feelings for Hector, Freddie and a rival broadcaster for ITV named Bill Kendal (Tom Burke), “The Hour” is pursuing internal issues in the UK, namely the amount of money being spent to fight the Cold War versus the rise in crime inside Britain, as well as racial hatred promulgated by a neo-fascist group.

Bel is a compelling character because of the way she’s been conceived by Morgan, of course, but also because of Garai’s ability to explore and realize both her steely determination on the job and the vulnerability and indecisiveness she feels in the area of relationships and what, at the time, were deemed traditional women’s roles in society.

Before shooting began, Garai said during an interview at the Beverly Hilton Hotel today, Morgan gave her “some idea of the themes” of the show, but “didn’t want us to know what would happen to us.” Accordingly, much of the storyline became somewhat of a surprise, clearly meant to inspire a certain spontaneity and naturalism in the cast’s performances.

“I remember thinking that (Bel) was a very interesting archetype,” Garai continued, “because for a woman of any period to be represented as being a commitment-phobe is a really interesting and unusal thing …for most female characters their real motivation is a love story, their main sort of journey.”

Garai finds Bel to be “sort of an antiheroine because she doesn’t find any of her satisfaction through love or romance— all of her satisfaction comes through her job. As the series progresses she becomes more and more master of her job and that really really attracted and interested me.”

It was a very interesting time for women in society because, during World War II, many had assumed traditional men’s roles in the workplace because husbands, sons and brothers were in the armed forces. After the war ended, many women wanted to continue working and began to see employment as an option in their lives.

However, the women in “The Hour” are married to their jobs. That is true of the veteran journalist, Lix Storm (Anna Chancellor) and it’s also true of Bel Rowley. In the second series, we will see another woman enter the workforce, but only after she has in essence kicked her broken marriage to the curb.

What fascinates Garai about the part of Bel is what she can and cannot control in her life.

“I think it was just about possible to be married (and in the work force),” she said. “It was absolutely not possible to be a mother (and work) and I think at that time, being married and not wanting to be a mother and being able to control that aspect of your life was extremely rare.”

While Bel is still wrestling with her commitment issues at the start of the second series, Garai sees marriage as a possibility for the character down the line. However, she doesn’t see her as a mother.

The second series will comprise six episodes and judging by the first two, the show is even better than it was the first season. Morgan has gone deeper into virtually all the characters, showing us their insecurities, their choices in life and career, their fears and frustrations.

Time has passed in the new season — it’s a year later, Sputnik has launched and President Eisenhower’s health was still a concern after his heart attack two years earlier.

The news division has a new chief, Randall Brown (Peter Capaldi) and the government has lost much of its power to control what is or isn’t broadcast. But the newfound “freedom” is still relative. Other forces want to determine what is appropriate to be broadcast or not. Meanwhile, the BBC is facing increased competition from Britain’s commercial network, ITV, which Garai says represents “commercialism, appetizing and popular entertainment, and the BBC representing traditional public service broadcasting.”

Those conflicts mirror the conflicts among the major characters, including Bel. Having taken a kind of refuge in being able to control what goes on in the BBC studio, she is learning that she may not have all that much control there either, and it’s pulling her apart.

All of these conflicts, internal and otherwise, make Bel Rowley an addictively fascinating woman, brought compellingly to life by an equally fascinating actress.